Misinformation and Disinformation plus Origins of Federalism

GOVT2306, Instructor: Tom Hanna, Fall 2023, University of Houston

Today’s Class

  • Announcements - Discussion
  • Part 1: Misinformtion, Disinformation, EC Quiz Answers
  • Part 2: Origins of Federalism

Announcements

  • How many hours a week should you spend outside of class on this course? Face-to-face class answer plus extra 80 minutes

  • You signed up for a hybrid course, so that assumes a high level of competence in navigating online

  • If you are having trouble navigating Canvas, you need to come to office hours this afternoon

  • Syllabus Quiz: Get Out of Jail Free supersedes Late Policy reference in Syllabus Quiz

Announcements 2

  • I am adding a “recommended schedule” for Chapter assignments in Canvas.

              - Due dates are unchanged
          - Chapter 4 Inquizitives this week (recommended) 
          - Chapters 1 to 5 due September 20 (DEADLINE!)

  • I will be sending reminders to those who are behind schedule from Canvas Gradebook every one to two weeks.

              - There is no need to reply to the reminders.
          - Nothing to apologize for.
          - Thank yous were appreciated but not needed.

  • Questions: During question time (NOW!) or office hours

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

  • Information consumers: US! The people receiving and acting on the information

  • Misinformation: false or misleading information that is unknowingly shared

  • Disinformation: false or misleading information that is purposely created and distributed

              - Out of context: missing surrounding words and circumstances, real meaning may be the opposite
          - Unusual definitions: different meaning than normal speech of the *information consumer* 
          - Lies

Three kinds of lies

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Attributed to:

            - Benjamin Disraeli
            - Mark Twain
            - Aldous Huxley
            - Leonard Henry, Baron Courtney of Penwith

Related: “Liars, damned liars, and experts!”

55% of Budget for Defense

55percent_defense meme

Unusual Definitions/Lack of Context

Tax Dollars Meme

Unusual Definitions/Lack of Context

  • This meme purposely confuses two different things

Simple definitions:

            - Discretionary: set in every budget
            - Nondiscretionary: set far in advance
            - Total budget: Discretionary plus Nondiscretionary

  • This shows only discretionary spending

              - Most spending on the little categories is nondiscretionary
          - Virtually all defense spending is discretionary

  • If we show the total budget, the picture changes drastically

  • If we show only nondiscretionary, the rocket disappears

Why is this a problem?

“This week on Facebook I ran into a couple of memes about the defense budget that I thought were worth addressing. While the core message that the United States spends too much on the military is sound, these particular memes are so massively misleading that I think it would be irresponsible to let them go unanswered…”

“Our education spending is about average (though somehow we do it so inefficiently that we don’t provide college for free, unlike Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, or Norway)…How about a meme about that?”

Human Economics

Practical and Moral Dimension

  • Practical issue:

              - If you believe in something, is it better to make an honest argument that you can back up with facts or to resort to misinformation, disinformation, distortions, and lies?

          - What happens if someone arguing for something gets caught lying? What do the people listening think?

          - Which is more effective?

  • Moral Dimension

              - Do you personally want to unknowingly spread disinformation?
                            -https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4124631-these-11-senators-voted-against-the-must-pass-defense-spending-bill/

Do This Now

Do This Now

Extra Credit Quiz Answers

The Extra Credit Quiz Answers are based on actual federal budget data from the US Department of the Treasury from 2021 last fiscal year:

Preview

Goals: Understand the problems. Understand the solutions. Argue more effectively for what you want. Don’t spread misinformation and look dishonest.

Healthcare vs Defense Spending

defense healthcare coronavirus meme

Question 1

Of the four following categories, which does the federal government spend the most on?

  1. police
  2. national defense
  3. healthcare
  4. veteran’s benefits

Question 1: Answer

Of the four following categories, which does the federal government spend the most on?

Correct answer C

  1. police - in “other” category, unknown share of 4%
  2. national defense - 13% of budget
  3. HEALTHCARE - 14% plus 12% for Medicare
  4. veteran’s benefits - 4% of budget

Healthcare vs Defense Spending

Honest meme: Healthcare should be twice as big as defense!

defense healthcare coronavirus meme

Social Spending: Is this true?

“It just happens,” [Senator Bernie Sanders] said. “We don’t worry about people sleeping out on the street…”

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4124631-these-11-senators-voted-against-the-must-pass-defense-spending-bill/

Question 2

Of the following categories of spending, which does the federal government spend the most on?

            a - interest on the national debt
            b - national defense
            c - social welfare spending
            d - transportation

Question 2: Answer

Of the following categories of spending, which does the federal government spend the most on?

Correct answer: C - social welfare spending

            a - interest on the national debt - 9%
            b - national defense - 13%
            c - social welfare spending - 65% including healthcare, 39% excluding healthcare. Does NOT include veteran's benefits!
            d - transportation - 2%

Social Spending: Is this true?

Based on the budget, this isn’t true at least for federal spending.

Not based on private charitable spending as a percent of national income either List of countries by charitable spending

“It just happens,” [Senator Bernie Sanders] said. “We don’t worry about people sleeping out on the street…”

                            - [source:](https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4124631-these-11-senators-voted-against-the-must-pass-defense-spending-bill/)

Election Budget vs Healthcare Spending

election_healthcare_budget_meme

Question 3

Of the following categories of spending, which does the federal government spend the most on?

            a - customs and immigration
            b - healthcare
            c - national defense
            d - veteran's benefits

Question 3: Answer

Of the following categories of spending, which does the federal government spend the most on?

Correct answer: b - HEALTHCARE - $741 billion plus $657 billion for Medicare vs $2 billion for that election

            a - customs and immigration - included in "other" less than 4%
            b - healthcare - 27% including Medicare, 14% without Medicare
            c - national defense - 13%
            d - veteran's benefits - 4%

Election Budget vs Healthcare Spending

TRUE MEME: We already spend $1,398 billion on healthcare. How much difference would $2 billion more make?

RESPONSE MEME: If free healthcare only cost $6.06 per person, why does it even need to be free? I’ll pay for mine and 100 other people and still save money!

election_healthcare_budget_meme

Biden Cutting Social Security

Biden Cut Social Security Meme

Disclaimer: I have no idea if these are true. It’s just related.

Question 4

If we combine national defense spending and veteran’s spending to create a category called “defense related spending,” which of the following categories gets the largest share of federal spending?

            a - defense related spending
            b - Social Security
            c - Medicare

Question 4: Answer

If we combine national defense spending and veteran’s spending to create a category called “defense related spending,” which of the following categories gets the largest share of federal spending?

Correct Answer: b - Social Security

            a - defense related spending - 17%
            b - Social Security - 21%
            c - Medicare - 12%

Trump Cutting Social Security

Biden say Trump will cut social security meme

Disclaimer: No idea if this is true either, it’s just funny given the Biden meme!

Question 5

Which of these gets the largest share of federal spending? Consider these categories:

            a. Courts and police of all types
            b. Defense related = national defense plus veteran's benefits and services
            c. Senior citizens benefits = Social Security and Medicare
            d. Welfare for non-seniors

Question 5

Which of these gets the largest share of federal spending? Consider these categories:

Correct Answer: C - Senior citizens benefits at 33% d. Welfare for non-seniors is close at 32%

            a. Courts and police of all types - less than 4$
            b. Defense related = national defense plus veteran's benefits and services - 17%
            c. Senior citizens benefits = Social Security and Medicare - 33%
            d. Welfare for non-seniors - 32%

Next version of this

We will revisit this topic at least once more during the semester and you can expect I will pick on a Republican Senator!

Three minutes starts now!

Federalism: Definitions

  • Sovereignty: Supreme and final governing authority.

  • Unitary system: the national government is completely sovereign

  • Confederation: The states or similar lower level governments are completely sovereign

  • Federalism: Sovereignty is shared between national and state governments

Three meanings of ball

  • an orange sphere we play basketball with

Cougar Basketball

Three meanings of ball

  • an orange sphere we play basketball with
  • an oblong brown object we play American football with

Cougar Football

Three meanings of ball

  • an orange sphere we play basketball with
  • an oblong brown object we play American football with
  • a nearly spherical object with 32 flat faces that we play football or soccer with

Soccer ball

Three meanings of ball

This isn’t just to be silly:

  • Balls are not all the same and…

Question:

  • Is it possible to fit a ball inside a larger ball?

Three meanings of ball

  • This isn’t just to be silly: Is it possible to fit a ball inside a larger ball?

Balls within a ball

Three meanings of state

  • A reference to any government as “the state”
  • Any of the independent sovereign actors in the international system. A sovereign government such as a nation like France or an independent city-state like Singapore
  • A subdivision in a federal or confederal system like the United States

Unitary systems

  • National government is supreme and holds all sovereignty

  • Do they have lower level governments? (States, cities, etc.)

              - Yes! But those governments get their power solely from the national government and the national government can abolish the lower units, change their powers, or overrule decisions at any time.

  • Most countries are unitary states

              - 166 of 193 United Nations Members

  • Examples:

              - People's Republic of China
          - Republic of China (Taiwan)
          - France
          - Finland
          - Sweden

Confederation

  • The states are completely sovereign

  • The sovereign units may be called states, republics, kingdoms, principalities, or other names associated with sovereign states

  • Also called a confederacy or a league

  • Is there a central or national government?

              - Yes! But the national government gets it power solely from the state governments and the state governments can abolish the central government, change its powers, ignore its decisions, or even overrule its decisions at any time.

  • Examples:

              - Benelux states (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg)
          - European Union
          - Switzerland
          - Union State of Russia and Belarus
          - United Colonies of New England (1643-1689)
          - united States of America (1776-1789)
          - Confederate States of America
          - Commonwealth of Independent States (1991-??)

Federalism

  • Also called federal systems or federalist systems

  • The central or national government is also called the federal government

  • Sovereignty is shared between the state and national governments

              - The powers of state and national governments are defined in a constitution
          - The national government may not change the powers of the states
          - The state governments may not change the powers of the national government
          - Each level's powers are binding on the other in its own proper sphere of influence

Federations (Federal systems)

  • There are 27 federations in the world

  • Examples:

              - Australia
          - Canada
          - Brazil
          - Estados Unidos Mexicanos
          - Germany
          - Russian Federation
          - United Arab Emirates

  • and The United States of America

Why federalism?

Two related reasons:

  • Historical accident
  • Additional Separation of Powers

History

  • From the Declaration of Independence (1776): “…these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”

History

  • From the Declaration of Independence (1776): “…these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
  • Not: “an Independent State.” Singular.

History

  • From the Declaration of Independence (1776): “…these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
  • Not: “an Independent State.” Singular.
  • 13 Free and Independent States. Plural.
  • The Republic created by the Constitution formed from the bottom up

History

  • From the Declaration of Independence (1776): “…these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
  • Not: “an Independent State.” Singular.
  • 13 Free and Independent States. Plural.
  • The Republic created by the Constitution formed from the bottom up
  • The individual states were jealous of the sovereign powers they had just won

History

  • From the Declaration of Independence (1776): “…these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
  • Not singular: “a Free and Independent State.”
  • Plural: 13 “Free and Independent States.”
  • The Republic formed from the bottom up
  • States: jealous of new sovereignty
  • States: protective of citizens’ Liberty

How was power split?

  • Federal government got necessary power for:

              - Interstate relations - common market

  • Mostly Article I powers given to Congress

  • Examples:

              - uniform laws of bankruptcies
          - regulate commerce...among the several states
          - post offices and post roads
          - standard weights and measures
          - coin money and regulate the value of coin (currency)

How was power split?

  • Federal government got necessary power for:

              - Interstate relations - common market
          - Foreign relations - unified foreign policy

  • Article I and II

  • Examples:

              - Make treaties
          - appoint ambassadors
          - Declare war
          - punish piracy
          - regulate commerce with foreign nations
          - raise armies and a navy
          - to govern the state militias when in federal service

How was power split?

  • Federal government got necessary power for:

              - Interstate relations - common market
          - Foreign relations - unified foreign policy
          - Taxes to fund federal government
          - Limited power over federal elections

  • Article I

How was power split?

  • Federal government got necessary power for:

              - Interstate relations - common market
          - Foreign relations - unified foreign policy
          - Taxes to fund federal government

  • State governments got: Everything else

              - Most crimes
          - Business formation
          - Property records and enforcement
          - contract law
          - family law
          - Primary power over elections

What happened from there?

  • First central banks: 1791, 1810
  • States asserted their power: early 1800s
  • Civil War: established federal supremacy
  • Westward expansion: increased federal power
  • 1913 Federal Reserve Bank and Income Tax
  • New Deal: further expansion of federal power
  • Great Society 1960s
  • New Federalism: 1970s

What happened from there?

  • What happened from there (Sept 21)
  • Bill of Rights and early Civil Liberties (Sept 19)
  • Later Civil Liberties and the Civil Rights Movement (Sept 26 and 28)

GOVT2306, Fall 2023, Instructor: Tom Hanna